GV Connect for iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad
Colored and underlined text indicates new features only available in the upcoming release of the application currently in review by Apple on the iPhone AppStore — some of the screen shots might also reflect the new version and be slightly different from the version currently available for download.
GV Connect is the most feature-rich Google Voice application available for your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad — interact with your existing "Google Voice" accounts much faster than using the web interface:
- Place calls using your Google Voice number rather than your mobile number — enter numbers directly, select a contact from your device's contacts, or call back any number in your history. The application can seamlessly handle multiple Google Voice accounts; calls can be placed using call back, direct call, or offline dialing (automatic fallback with no data connection) — see below for an explanation of the supported calling modes.
- Send and receive text messages (SMS) from your Google Voice number — including support for long messages exceeding 160 characters, sending to multiple recipients at once, and support for non-English messages. SMS composed with no active internet connection can be queued for automatic sending the next time the application detects a working internet connection while active.
- Listen to voicemails and recorded conversations right on your device (allowing you to pause, rewind, or fast forward to any point within the message) — voicemails will also show the transcription of the message when available.
- Mark messages as starred or un-/read, attach notes to conversations, block/unblock senders, un-/archive, or delete conversations.
- Easily search in your history by contact, message, or note content – supports continuing searches online for messages that have not yet been cached locally.
- All messages (including voicemails) are stored on your device for convenient offline access.
- Composing notes and text messages can be done in landscape mode.
- Quickly change various Google Voice account settings (call/SMS forwarding, do-not-disturb — including the option to have DND automatically expire at a specified time, message notifications, …) and add additional calling credit to your account directly from within the application.
- Quick Settings allow saving and restoring complete account settings (DND, forwarding, …) for easy switching between different profiles.
- Automatic checking for new messages while the application is active.
- Integrates with Talkatone to allow placing outgoing VoIP calls using your Google Talk account — see additional information below for current limitations when using Talkatone.
- Supports gesture navigation when typing text for easier placement of the cursor: swipe left/right with one or two fingers to move the caret position backwards/forward by character or word. Swipe left/right with three fingers to go to the beginning/end of the existing text.
- Supports TextExpander touch snippet expansion.
- All communication is done with the Google Voice website directly, no need to hand over your account information to a third-party.
Please note that GV Connect is not a SIP/VoIP application and will thus not allow making calls from an iPad or iPod Touch without a separate VoIP/SIP application. GV Connect currently does not support answering a call back to your 'Google Talk' callback number directly on the device — see VoIP Calling for current solution that allow making and receiving calls using data only.
GV Connect stores your account password securely in your device's keychain for faster login when launching the application — communication is done via secure connections (SSL) to the Google Voice servers and no contact information (other than the contact's phone number which is required to place a call or send a message) is sent to Google. All operations are fully synchronized with your Google Voice account.
GV Connect is available on the iPhone App Store (requires iOS 5.0 or higher and an existing full Google Voice account including GV phone number).
Macintosh users please also check out the free GV Connect Dashboard Widget (requires MacOS X 10.5 or higher).
Next >
The individual screens of the application are detailed to the left - click the "Next >" button or the screen shot itself to go the the next screen shot. While most screen shots show the iPhone/iPod Touch interface, behavior on the iPad is the same - see the last image for a screen shot of the iPad interface.
Call History List
• Tap any item to show details for the selected call
• Tap and hold any item to show a list of available message actions
• Tap star to (un)mark a message as starred
• Blocked senders are shown with brown text
• Attached notes are indicated by the little note icon next to the message date/time
• Swipe any item to delete it (note that this will completely delete the call from the Google Voice website as well)
• Filter the list by call type using the buttons on top
• Scroll up (above the first item in the list) to reveal the search box
Call Types Legend:
Placed call
Received call
Missed call
Recorded call
Keypad View
• Enter a number using the keypad or select any number from the device's contacts database by tapping the contact/favorite icon in the lower left. Tap and hold the contact/favorite icon to display the favorites view
• Tap the phone number field at the top to paste the current clipboard contents (letters will be converted to numbers as indicated on the keypad)
• The location and current local time for number to be called is shown below the number (when available)
• Your current Google Voice calling credit is shown in the top right corner
• Start the call (using call back to the number shown) by tapping the "Call" button
• Change the call back number in the Settings view, by selecting the "Call" button before entering any numbers, or when starting the call by holding down the "Call" button until the call back selection appears (the call will then be started immediately using the selected call back number)
• If you currently don't have an active internet connection (which is required to initiate the call back) and are using an iPhone, you will be prompted whether you would like to initiate the call by placing an outgoing call through your Google Voice number instead (minutes charges might apply). This requires that you have not changed the default setting for your iPhone on your Google Voice phone settings on the website ("Direct access to voicemail when calling your Google number from this phone" in Advanced settings set to "Yes")
SMS Message List
• The number of messages in each conversation is shown after contact name
• Conversations with unread messages are shown in blue color/italic font and with a light blue background
• Select any item to view the full conversation, reply to a message, or call back the sender
• Start a new conversation by tapping the icon at the top right
• Tap the star to (un)mark message as starred
• Select a filter at the top to only show a certain subset of messages
• Attached notes are indicated by a little note icon before the message time — depending on the preference setting for "Notes in Message Lists", the details for an individual conversation are either the standard details (last SMS content) or the note contents (if a note is present)
• Swipe any conversation in the list to (un)archive or delete the full conversation (swiping action can be selected in the Settings view)
• Tap & hold any conversation in the list to bring up additional options (mark as un-/read, un-/archive, block sender, forward as email, …)
• Scroll up to reveal search box
Search in SMS Message List
• Scrolling up in the message list reveals the search box
• Search within the contact names as well as message or note contents
• When the "All" section is selected at the top of the message list, a "Search all online messages…" row will appear below the search results - clicking this row will continue the search online (including messages that have not yet been cached locally)
SMS Conversation View
• Tap the reply field at the bottom of the conversation to type and send a reply to the current conversation. The reply field will show a character counter to show the number of characters (or number of SMS the message will be broken into). You can also double-tap anywhere in the previous conversation to show the keyboard and start typing a reply.
• Tap the note to edit existing note or select the action button at the top to add/delete note
• Tap any message row to select and copy message text. The popup menu will display a "More…" item if the selected text contains a phone number — selecting this item will allow to call the number or send an SMS to it via GV Connect
• Tap the add contact button next to the phone number at the bottom of the conversation to attach a name to the number and add it as a new contact to your Google Voice or device contacts (the button will only be visible if the displayed phone number is not already present in both, your Google Voice and device contacts). When adding a contact to your device's address book you can select whether to create a new contact or add the number to an existing contact
• Selecting the action button at the top will bring up additional options (call contact, un-/archive, block sender, forward as email, or delete the conversation — note that deleting a conversation will completely remove it from the Google Voice website as well. Tap and hold the "Call" button to change the call back number on the fly)
• Tap and hold the action button to call back the conversation partner using your currently selected calling method
• For contacts in your device's address book, the title bar will show the contact's name - tap to open the contact to show additional information or to allow editing the contact
Voicemail Detail View
• Select the play button at the bottom to start playing the original message
• Use the slider to scroll to any point in the recording
• Use the speaker icon to toggle sound output between speaker or the phone's earpiece (speaker icon without sound waves emerging — iPhone only); a currently connected Bluetooth headset will be used instead of the phone's earpiece
• Tap the transcription to select and copy message text. The popup menu will display a "More…" item if the selected text contains a phone number — selecting this item will allow to call the number or send an SMS to it via GV Connect
• Tap the add contact button next to the phone number at the bottom of the conversation to attach a name to the number and add it as a new contact to your Google Voice or device contacts (the button will only be visible if the displayed phone number is not already present in both, your Google Voice and device contacts). When adding a contact to your device's address book you can select whether to create a new contact or add the number to an existing contact
• Selecting the action button at the top will bring up additional options
• Tap and hold the action button to call back the conversation partner using your currently selected calling method
• For contacts in your device's address book, the title bar will show the contact's name - tap to open the contact to show additional information or to allow editing the contact
Settings View
The first entry in the settings allows access to "Quick Settings" — you can create named Settings (using the current settings for forwarding, DND, notifications, … for the current account) or quickly change all settings to a previously saved state by selecting an existing Quick Setting. If the current settings match one of the Quick Settings defined for the currently selected account, the name of the matching Quick Setting will be shown.
The next section allows you to change general settings of your account (the email address associated with the currently selected account and your own Google Voice number are displayed at the top of the Settings list):
• Show current credit balance for international calls (updated on application launch) — tap your current balance to add additional calling credit via 'Google Checkout'
• En-/disable "Do not disturb" setting (when DND is enabled, all calls placed to your Google Voice number are routed directly to voicemail)
• When DND is enabled, you can specify an expiration date/time for DND — when selected, DND will automatically be turned off again at the selected time. Without an expiration time set, DND will remain active until you manually disable it again
• En-/disable "Call screening" (whether you get connected directly to incoming calls or hear answering options instead)
• Specify whether unknown callers will be prompted to say their name when call screening is enabled
• En-/disable voicemail to text transcription
• Select what number to show as Caller ID on incoming calls (your own Google Voice number or the caller's number)
• Select outgoing Caller ID when sending SMS to another Google Voice number from one of your forwarding phones (keep the forwarding phone's original number or use your GV phone number)
• Change the default voicemail greetings callers hear (record greetings on the Google Voice website)
• Select "Accounts" at the top left to switch between multiple accounts or add/remove accounts — removing an account will remove your password from the device's keychain and delete all local data for that account
Settings View (continued)
• En-/disable call options for incoming calls (recording [4], switch [*], and conferencing)
• En-/disable global SPAM filtering for your account — see this Google Voice blog entry for a detailed explanation of this feature
Start Calls From
• Select the first item to select which of your verified numbers should receive a call back when starting a call
• If the currently selected number is a Gizmo number and if you have Truphone installed on your device you will get a second entry, allowing you to specify whether Truphone should be launched when placing a call. This allows you make a call without using your phone minutes while connected to a WiFi network (in order for this to work you have to select to forward all calls to your Truphone number (typically <PHONENUMBER>@truphone.com) in your Gizmo account settings.
• If you select 'Google Talk' for the callback and have 'Talkatone' installed on your device, you can enable placing calls using Talkatone - this will launch Talkatone and place an outgoing call from your Google Talk account when starting a call from GV Connect.
Call Forwarding
• This section lists all verified phone numbers connected to your Google Voice number — phone numbers that will ring on incoming calls are marked with a checkmark
• Select any phone number in the list to toggle its forwarding status
Settings View (continued)
SMS Forwarding
• Verified mobile phone numbers attached to your account that will receive SMS messages sent to your GV number are marked with a checkmark (note that enabling SMS forwarding might incur charges on you mobile phone account)
• Select any phone number in the list to toggle its forwarding status
SMS Notifications for Voicemails
• Verified mobile phone numbers attached to your account that will receive an SMS message for when you receive a new voicemail on your GV number are marked with a checkmark (note that enabling SMS notifications might incur charges on you mobile phone account)
• Select any phone number in the list to toggle its notification status
Email Notifications
• En-/disable Email notifications for incoming voicemails, SMS, or missed calls to the address indicated — if you have more than one Email address registered on your Google account you can select which one the notifications should be forwarded to by selecting the Email address.
Settings View (continued)
GV Connect Settings
• En-/disable automatic refresh — if automatic refresh is enabled, the application will keep polling your account for new unread messages while active (note that this might cause increased battery drain and could incur data charges)
• En-/disable message sounds — alert for new unread messages and after successfully sending an SMS while the application is active using an alert sound
• En-/disable graphical emoticons in message displays — replace textual emoticons with graphical equivalents (note that this applies for the message display only, the message is sent as typed)
• Change behavior when selecting a phone number from the contacts or favorites in the dial pad — with "Start call from contact" enabled, the call will be automatically started after selecting the number to call, bypassing the need to explicitly tap the "Call" button after selection
• En-/disable automatic prefetching of audio files for voicemails – if pre-fetching is off, audio files will be downloaded the first time you listen to a VM (and cached on the device after that for faster access later); with pre-fetching on, the audio files will be downloaded and cached on the device automatically when a new voicemail is received (note that enabling pre-fetching can potentially increase your data usage charges).
• En-/disable "Shake to Refresh" in message lists to allow for better accessibility when using VoiceOver
• Toggle behavior of message list previews to either show the standard details (last SMS messages, VM transcription, or call details) or the contents of the note attached to the conversation (if present - default details will be shown for conversations without notes)
• En-/disable use of larger fonts for messages (in message lists and conversation views)
• En-/disable TextExpander integration for automatic snippet expansion
• Toggle the primary action (short press) of the contacts button in the dial pad and the contacts button when composing a new SMS. The primary action can be selected as either access to the device's full Address Book or to the in-application Favorites — the other action is accessible by holding down the buttons
• Toggle swipe action in SMS and voicemail message lists (use either "Delete" or "Archive/Unarchive" when swiping individual messages in the list) - please note that all actions can always be accessed by holding down an entry in the list
• Toggle keyboard return key behavior when composing a new SMS (either enter a new line/return character or immediately send the message)
• Turn application passcode on or off. Note: the application passcode is securely stored in your application's keychain. If you forget your passcode there is no way to recover it - you will have to delete and re-install the application (which will delete all cached messages and data)
• Allow to clear the local data cache for the currently selected account on your device — this allows you to free local storage space (especially with a large amount of local audio files) and re-synchronize data with your account (in case you deleted messages directly on the website as they will still be present on your device). You can also clear the local cookie storage in case you are encountering authentication issues with your account
iPad interface
The iPad interface allows for all the same operations as the iPhone/iPod Touch version but has a few differences:
• The dial pad to place calls is presented in a popover (from the little phone icon at the top left of the interface) and is accessible regardless of the current context.
• The 'Accounts' and new SMS compose buttons are accessible at all times regardless of the selected view - this allows to quickly switch between accounts while staying within the current view.
• The username and GV phone number of the current account are always visible below the application icon on the left - this allows to quickly identify which account is active if more than one account is set up.
• Unread SMS conversations and voicemails are indicated with a red indicator next to the entry in the list on the left.
What are all the calling options supported in GV Connect and how do they work?
GV Connect currently supports the following options to place a call from your Google Voice phone number:
- Callback: when placing a call, you will receive a call from your own Google Voice number to the selected callback number (shown in the "Call" button on the keypad or in the "Start Calls From" section in the Settings tab). Just answer the incoming call and you will be automatically connected to the number you are calling.
Note that selecting your iPhone's number as the callback number might use calling minutes from your cell phone plan — if your cell phone account supports unlimited calling to a list of numbers (e.g., AT&T's "A-List" or Verizon's "Friends and Familiy"), you might be able to add your own Google Voice number to your list of preferred numbers to avoid depleting your monthly minutes when using your Google Voice number.
If you have the 'Talkatone' application installed on your device and select your 'Google Talk' address as the callback, you can enable placing a direct VoIP call using Talkatone by turning the 'Call using Talkatone' option on in the 'Start calls from' section in the Settings — see below for additional information about current Talkatone integration.
- Direct Call (iPhone only): after selecting "Direct Call" as the "Start Calls From" setting in the application, calls will be made by calling a temporary Google access number which will directly connect to the number you wish to call. Please note that this access number is temporary only — if you try to redial it form the iPhone's recent call list you will hear a recorded "cannot complete your call" message. Please note that the access number is assigned by Google on a per-call basis – GV Connect has no control over what access number is used to place the call.
In order to direct calling to work, your iPhone's number needs to be added as a "mobile" forwarding number to your Google Voice account. Using direct call might use calling minutes from your cell phone plan.
- iPhone Dialer (iPhone only): calls will be placed through the iPhone's native phone application, using your iPhone's phone number as the Caller ID. This allows for faster connection of calls, requires no data connection, and can be especially useful if you use your provider's Google Voice integration for your iPhone's number (e.g., with Sprint as the provider).
- Offline Dialing (iPhone only): using any of the above calling methods (other than "iPhone Dialer") on an iPhone when data access is currently unavailable, you will be asked whether you want to place the call in "offline mode" — this will call your own Google Voice number and then automatically dial through the voice prompts to connect you to the number you wish to dial.
This option requires that your iPhone has been added as a "mobile" forwarding number to your Google Voice account and that you set up your iPhone on the Google Voice website to directly connect to your voicemail (Settings → Phones → click the "Edit" button below your iPhone's number → "Show advanced settings" → "Direct access to voicemail when calling your Google number from this phone?" set to "Yes").
Note that placing a call using offline dialing is rather slow (typically 30+ seconds until the target number is called) and that it might use calling minutes from your cell phone plan.
After completing a call using "Offline Mode" or "Direct Call", the phone application stays active rather than relaunching GV Connect
This is a known bug in the system software and nothing can be done about this for now. If you want this behavior changed, please leave feedback with Apple, asking them to return to the originating application after initiating a call using the 'openURL' method — registered developers should file a bug about this and reference <rdar://problem/7176203> as a duplicate.
I selected 'Google Talk' for the callback ("Start Calls From") and never receive a call back
To answer the 'Google Talk' callback you need to either have the 'Talkatone' application installed on your device (if you do, you probably would want to enable the 'Call using Talkatone' in the Settings) or answer the callback from a Desktop browser while logged in to your GMail account. In order to answer calls from your device without any thrid-party applications you need to select your mobile number to start calls from (or an SIP number connected to your GV number and answer the incoming call from a separate SIP application).
I receive an 'Invalid Number' error message for every number I try to call — I'm sure that the number is correct!
You have to enter the number in one of the following formats:
• '+ [COUNTRY CODE] [AREA CODE] [NUMBER]' – (e.g., '+1…' for US/Candian numbers)
• '011 [COUNTRY CODE] [AREA CODE] [NUMBER]' – for international numbers outside the US/Canada
• '1 [AREA CODE] [NUMBER]' or '[AREA CODE] [NUMBER]' – for numbers in the US/Canada
• '[7–DIGIT NUMBER]' – for US numbers with the same area code as your GV phone number
If you still get the error with numbers entered in on of the above formats, make sure that you have a GV phone number (and are able to use Google Voice outside the GMail web client) and have at least one actual phone number defined as a forwarding number on your Google Voice account on the website and select that number in the "Start calls from" setting — if your only number connected to your Google Voice number is your 'Google Talk' account you will get the 'Invalid Number' error.
I have to re-enter my login information every time the application is started
Your username and password are stored securely in your device's Keychain. In order to ensure that Keychain data is well protected, there are several security checks performed by the system — if any of these fail, the password cannot be stored, resulting in you having to re-enter it the next time the application is launched. If you encounter this issue, please make sure that your device is running the latest system software and that no custom modifications have been done on any of the system files as those might result in failure to properly access the Keychain.
I don't have a Google Voice account — do I get one when buying GV Connect?
No — an existing full Google Voice account (including GV phone number) is required in order to use GV Connect.
If you don't have an account already, you can request an invitation for a new account (currently available to US residents only).
If you can make calls from within GMail on a desktop browser only, you have to upgrade your Google Voice account to a full account (with an actual phone number) using the following steps:
- In GMail, click the Call phone link in the Chat list
- From the Call window, click your current account balance and select "History" or "Add credit"
- Once in Google Voice (which will open in a new window), click the "Get a Google Number" button on the left
- Complete the upgrade steps including picking your new Google number
Can I access my Google/Google Voice contacts from within GV Connect?
Yes — if you set up your Google account using the Exchange protocol (see these instructions on how to do this), all your Google/Google Voice contacts will be accessible from within your device's Contacts application and thus be available to GV Connect (and all other applications as well).
Does GV Connect support Push Notifications for new messages?
Not at this moment — see the section about Push Notifications below for current solutions.
How will I get charged for calls and SMS when using GV Connect?
Sending and receiving text messages using your Google Voice number are free (data charges might apply). Note that Google Voice currently does not support international SMS.
When making calls with your Google Voice number using your iPhone, normal calling charges (based on calling your own Google Voice number) apply.
If you have a Gizmo account and enabled forwarding all calls received from your Gizmo number to your Truphone account, you can use Truphone (if installed on your device) to place calls without using any of your minutes when a WiFi network is available. You can do the same using any VoIP/SIP account that gives you a real phone number you can add as a forwarding number to your Google Voice account — see VoIP calling below.
For international outgoing calls placed from your Google Voice number, international calling rates apply (charges will be deducted from your Google Voice account balance) — calling is available worldwide.
Since all the data accessed by GV Connect is located on Google's servers, there is currently no way to provide push notifications unless you would be willing to either store your Google Voice account information on a third-party server (which would essentially give that party full control of your account) or forward all your SMS and VM notification emails to a third-party email address. As GV Connect currently communicates with Google's servers only, your account information is safe and well protected. Providing push notifications directly within GV Connect would require setup of an additional account on my server in order to be able to redirect the push notifications correctly — this makes the separation between credentials and user data much less clear and would require a large amount of trust on the side of the user.
That said, there are a few solutions available already to enable push notifications for new unread SMS and voicemails without having to potentially compromise your user credentials or data:
- Prowl: add your Prowl email address ([yourapikey]@api.prowlapp.com) to your Google account (you will have to go into Prowl to approve the verification message from Google) then use the settings view to set the Prowl email as a forward address. Push notifications will open (via Prowl redirect) directly in GV Connect
This solution requires enabling email notifications for SMS & VM and forwarding them to Prowl
- GV Connect Dashboard Widget (MacOS X 10.5 or higher) + Prowl: use the generic "GV Connect" redirection in Prowl for the application name "GV Connect"
This solution works if you have access to a Mac that is connected to the internet at all times and it does not require passing your notification mails to a third party. However, the GV Connect Widget currently does not distinguish between new SMS and new VM in the notification title so you can't set up more detailed redirection settings in Prowl to directly open the application to a specific tab. Also, as the fasted polling interval in the Dashboard widget is one minute, notification can be delayed up to a maximum of one minute.
- Boxcar: to use Boxcar with GV Connect, just add the Google Voice service in Boxcar. While adding the service, change the "opens using" option to GV Connect and make sure to enable forwarding to your Boxcar email address.
- Use the official Google Voice app: while Google's own application is severely limited in its features, you can enable its notifications to receive Push notifications without requiring to involve any other third party to do so. After receiving a Push notification from Google you would then have to manually open GV Connect to see the new message.
GV Connect supports the following URL schemes for launching the application and execute custom actions (please note that all URL handlers are case-sensitive and that all have to be properly URL-encoded):
- gvconnect:// – generic URL to launch the application (it will resume in its previous state)
- gvconnect://[TAB] (where "[TAB]" is replaced by one of "call", "sms", "vm", "history", or "settings") – launch the application and show the specified tab
- gvconnect://call?[NUMBER] (where "[NUMBER]" is replaced by a phone number) – launch the application to the dial pad with the specified number entered; simply press "Call" to start the call
- gvconnect://call?number=[NUMBER]&callmethod=[CALLMETHOD] (where "[NUMBER]" is replaced by the phone number to be called and "[CALLMETHOD]" is replaced by the calling method to be used — use either the forwarding phone's name or phone number or use "DirectCall" to use the direct call method on the iPhone) – launch the application and initiate a call to the specified number using the specified calling method
- gvconnect://sms?[NUMBER] (where "[NUMBER]" is replaced by a phone number) – launch the application to a new SMS compose window with the specified number as the recipient (enter up to five numbers, separated by commas, to compose a group SMS).
- gvconnect://sms?number=[NUMBER]&message=[MESSAGE] (where "[NUMBER]" is replaced by a phone number (or up to five numbers, separated by commas, to compose a group SMS) and "[MESSAGE]" is replaced with the — properly URL-encoded — message text; you can supply one or both parameters when using this syntax) — launch the application to a new SMS compose window with the specified number as the recipient and the message already pre-filled (ready to send)
- gvconnect://quicksetting?[NAME] (where "[NAME]" is replaced with the — properly URL-encoded — name of a Quick Setting) — launch the application (to the same place it was previously opened) and switch to the specified Quick Setting (if a Quick Setting with the given name exists for the current accont)
At this moment GV Connect is not an SIP/VoIP client and thus does not allow to make phone calls using data only (e.g., using your 'Google Talk' number as a callback number and place calls without using any of your cell phone account's minutes). However, using a third-party application you can do so (meaning the following works on an iPad or iPod Touch as well):
If you have the Talkatone application installed on your device, you can enable the 'Call using Talkatone' option after selection your Google Talk address as the call-back number in the 'Start calls from' section in the Settings. Doing so will automatically launch Talkatone and initiate the call when placing a call from GV Connect. Please make sure that you have the latest version of Talkatone installed (0.9.5.1 or higher) and take note of the following points with regards to the interaction:
- In order to use multiple accounts, Talkatone requires a premium subscription. If you are using a single account only or are trying to initiate calls from the only account that is set up in Talkatone, no subscription is required.
- Talkatone requires using your full email address (including "@gmail.com") as your username - in order not to get prompted about the premium subscription when trying to place a call from GV Connect, please make sure that you use the same username for both applications (i.e., use you full email address in GV Connect as well).
Using a CALLCentric or sipgate phone number
- Sign up for a free SIP account with CALLCentric or sipgate.com - this will give you free incoming calls with a real phone number
- Add your new CALLCentric/sipgate phone number as a forwarding number to your GV account on the Google Voice website
- Use an SIP client (e.g., Groundwire or Softphone) on your device to set up your CALLCentric/sipgate account. Instead of using a full-fledged SIP client you can also use fring (which allows for one single SIP account) or truphone (iPhone, iPod, or iPad version — via forwarding your CALLCentric/sipgate account to truphone) as well
- Choose your CALLCentric/sipgate number as the "Start Calls from" number in the Settings of GV Connect. Upon placing a call you will receive the callback on your phone and your SIP client application should present you with a push notification — simply answer that push notification and you will be connected to your target phone number using data only (WiFi or 3G if you have cellular data and allowed for 3G calls in your SIP application). If the VoIP application supports background operation you can also receive incoming calls to your GV number by answering them with your VoIP application as long as you enable your CALLCentric/sipgate phone number in the "Call Forwarding" section in GV Connect's Settings
The following is a list of other applications that allow for interaction with GV Connect:
- Launch Center Pro — create shortcuts to quickly open GV Connect and perform various actions
- Drafts — create single tap messaging actions with pre-defined recipients and templates and send them through GV Connect
- Missives — create boilerplate SMS messages and send them through GV Connect
- AB Contacts — call or send SMS through GV Connect
- Contact Launch — call or send SMS through GV Connect
- myPhone Desktop — call or send SMS through GV Connect
- Talkatone — initiate VoIP calls using your Google Talk account directly from within GV Connect
- TextExpander — use user-defined abbreviations that expand into snippets when composing SMS messages
If you know of other applications that can interface with GV Connect please let me know and I'll add them to the list.
1.12.5 (May 10, 2013 — released on the iPhone App Store May 15, 2013)
- Fix issue introduced in the last update which resulted in the SMS reply text field not scrolling up on the iPad when the keyboard is displayed
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1.12.4 (May 6, 2013 — released on the iPhone App Store May 10, 2013)
- Add support for continuing searches for messages online (i.e., search messages that have not yet been cached on the device). When searching for messages while displaying "All" items, click the "Search all online messages…" row at the bottom of the search results to search for additional messages online (and download them as needed)
- Add gesture navigation for text fields inside alerts as well
- Prevent a "No Network" alert being displayed when starting the application via URL scheme (e.g., changing the active Quick Setting) when the application has not been running in the background
- Fix issues related to Quick Settings not always correctly en-/disabling forwarding phones
- Correct a visual glitch when opening a conversation view from the message list search results with the keyboard visible
- Various stability improvements based on user-submitted reports
1.12.3 (April 10, 2013 — released on the iPhone App Store April 14, 2013)
- Add gesture navigation when editing text - swipe left/right with one or two fingers to move the caret position backwards/forward by character or word. Swipe left/right with three fingers to go to the beginning/end of the existing text
- Fix issue with missing calls placed via carrier integration in the history list
- Adapt to changes in the (unofficial and unpublished) Google Voice mobile API to fix failures when placing a direct call
- Various stability improvements based on user submitted crash reports
1.12.2 (March 29, 2013 — released on the iPhone App Store April 2, 2013)
- Improve speed for contact lookup - users with lots of contacts and/or older devices should see a significant improvement in the time it takes for the initial contact search results to be populated when composing a new SMS immediately after application launch
- Double-clicking an SMS conversation now brings up the keyboard and focuses on the reply field (to avoid accidentally selecting a different tab when tapping the reply field)
- Show a sending progress bar in the conversation title when replying to an SMS conversation
- Fix inability to edit existing notes for VMs and call history entries
- Restore TextExpander support for the in-line SMS reply field
- When forwarding a conversation via email, respect newlines in the individual messages and the attached note
- Fix random crash on the iPad when switching to the Settings view while a SMS conversation is being displayed with the keyboard visible
- On the iPad, properly update the Contacts/Favorites button on the dial pad based on the selected preference setting
- Various stability improvements based on user-submitted reports
1.12.1 (March 16, 2013 — released on the iPhone App Store March 21, 2013)
- Increase the touchable area for entries in the conversation options popup to make it more responsive and avoid accidental taps on the wrong item
- Dismiss the keyboard when tapping the previous conversation in an SMS thread
- Fix issue where the Speaker button would sometimes be missing in the voicemail details view
- Add "tap & hold" for the conversation options button in a conversation view as a shortcut to call back the conversation partner
- Fix tap & hold to select call method on the fly from the conversation options popup on the iPad
- Improve placement of the conversation options popup in order for it not to be cut off when shown via long tap in the message list on an iPhone in landscape mode
- Improve placement of the in-line SMS reply field on the iPad when the keyboard is undocked or split
- Clear the previous number from the dial pad after placing a call using the "iPhone Dialer" calling method
- Update the Contacts/Favorites button on the dial pad to reflect the preference setting for its behavior
- Correct visual glitch where the in-line SMS reply could overflow the bottom of the reply field
- Fix minor visual inconsistencies in the note popup when editing an existing note on the iPad
- Improve VoiceOver accessibility for the call type selection in the call history
1.12 (March 7, 2013 — released on the iPhone App Store March 11, 2013)
- New in-line SMS reply for faster workflow in ongoing SMS conversations (conversation layout akin iMessage)
- Removed action buttons at the bottom of the conversation views in favor of a central button at the top which shows a popover with allowed actions
- Various visual tweaks to the passcode lock screen
- Several UI tweaks and improvements
- Miscellaneous stability improvements based on submitted feedback
1.11.1 (January 17, 2013 — released on the iPhone App Store January 23, 2013)
- Fix issue with the message list becoming less and less responsive over time
- Improve reloading cached contact data after changes occurred in the Address Book (e.g., updated contact images)
- Fix incorrect behavior when entering/editing a phone number with pauses in the dial pad
- In the conversation view, show the date in addition to the time for the first SMS
- Various stability and performance enhancements based on user-submitted reports
1.11 (December 12, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store December 17, 2012)
NOTE: In order to fully support the iPhone 5 this version requires iOS 5 or higher. Please back up the current version of the application before updating if you are still using an older system
- SMS sending will now complete in the background after dismissing the application while the message is being sent - no need to wait for the message to be sent before closing the application (this also fixes the issue of duplicate messages being sent on occasion)
- full landscape support throughout the appliciaton on the iPhone
- fix issue where QuickSettings would sometimes not work correctly for enabling SMS/VM forwarding to multiple phones
- fix momentary freeze after adding a phone number to the Address Book
- fix dial pad display issue after editing favorites on the iPad
- fix minor UI issues on the iPhone 5 and update several UI elements for an updated appearance
- various stability and performance improvements
1.10.4 (September 24, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store October 2, 2012)
- Fix placement of contact name label on dial pad
- Various stability improvements based on user-submitted crash reports
1.10.3 (September 12, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store September 19, 2012)
- add support for the 4" screen on the iPhone 5 and 5th generation iPod Touch
1.10.2 (August 2, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store August 6, 2012)
- fix crash when composing new SMS introduced in version 1.10.1 due to being compiled with the latest version of the developer tools
1.10.1 (July 30, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store August 2, 2012)
- correct missing scrollbar when composing long SMS
1.10 (July 18, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store July 29, 2012)
- add support for sending SMS to multiple recipients (up to the current limit of five recipients imposed by Google Voice)
- fix issue where conversations in the message list sometimes would be labeled "Me" rather than with the recipient's name or number
- improve contact matching when entering phone numbers starting with "011" instead of "+" on the dial pad
- fix minor cosmetic issue in message lists when using swipe-to-delete or device rotation on the iPad
- various stability improvements based on user-submitted crash reports
1.9.5 (June 16, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store June 25, 2012)
- Add a new application setting to allow use of a larger font for messages
- Fix issue where selecting a favorite number would not work when composing a new SMS message
- Make sure calls placed from Sprint phones using GV integration show up in the history list
- Correct an intermittent problem with the keypad freezing for a few seconds when typing a contact name while creating a new SMS
- Fix rare issue with the last line in conversation views being partially cut off
- Correct text alignment for messages in languages using right-to-left text
- Various stability improvements based on user-submitted crash reports
1.9.4 (April 26, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store May 2, 2012)
- Various stability improvements based on user-submitted crash reports
1.9.3 (April 6, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store April 12, 2012)
- Add new "iPhone Dialer" calling method (iPhone only) to allow placing calls using your iPhone's phone number as the Caller ID
- Fix issue with missed touches on the iPad (switching views not working reliably when returning from background)
- Correct problem where changing the email notification address would not work correctly on the iPad after switching accounts
- Fix minor visual glitch with the startup image on the iPhone 4S
- Various stability improvements
1.9.2 (March 7, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store March 14, 2012)
- Expand the URL scheme to allow one-click calling for better integration with other applications (e.g., Launch Center Pro)
- Support for Retina display on iPad
- Fix issue where some URL calls to the application would not complete properly if a passcode lock was set
- Improve visual feedback when deleting a conversation from the "More…" button in the conversation view
- Fix problem with the application getting stuck in "Loading Settings…" after adding a second account
1.9.1 (February 13, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store February 14, 2012)
- Fix crash when dismissing certain popovers on the iPad introduced in version 1.9
1.9 (February 6, 2012 — released on the iPhone App Store February 13, 2012)
- Add optional application passcode lock
- Allow editing of contact information by clicking the contact name in the title bar for a conversation
- Dismiss modal alert sheets when entering background
- Fix incorrect forwarding number being selected on the iPad after dismissing the "Call" popover opened from within conversation details
1.8.7 (November 14, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store November 19, 2011)
- Fixes inability to switch to certain keyboards when composing a new SMS on iOS 5
- Better synchronization of contact picture changes from the Address Book
1.8.6 (October 5, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store October 8, 2011)
- Fix issue where the application would unnecessarily re-authenticate when returning from background
- Correct layout in the history list so that the call details are no longer cut off prematurely
- Make offline dialing compatible with iOS 5
1.8.5 (September 21, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store September 27, 2011)
- Add new preference setting to show notes (when present) rather than the last message/VM transcription in the message lists
- When auto completing names from the address book, matches are now prioritized based on previous selections
- Briefly highlight the previously selected message when returning to the message list from a message detail view
- Improve visual layout for SMS conversations forwarded via email
- Add notes (when present) to conversations forwarded via email
- Correct problem where sometimes duplicate messages would show up in an SMS conversation after sending a reply
- Improve VoiceOver accessibility for SMS conversations
- (iPad) restore previous contents when a new message or note popover has been accidentally dismissed
- (iPad) add more separation between the "Call" and "Play" buttons in VM detail views to avoid hitting the wrong button
- Fix issue which could lead to random crashes especially in low memory situations
- Various performance and stability improvements
1.8.4 (August 17, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store August 23, 2011)
- Add support for outgoing Caller ID setting (when sending SMS to another GV phone number from one of the forwarding phones)
- Add support for GV's "Call Options" setting (recording, switch, and conferencing options on inbound calls)
- Improve synchronization with online GV data - messages removed by means other than the application itself will now be removed from the local storage when the relevant batch of messages is reloaded from the server
- Correct problem where loading earlier voicemails would sometimes not work
- Correctly display "Transcription in progress" when applicable for new VMs
- Fix issue with the settings view sometimes not updating correctly after changing the VM to SMS forwarding option if more than one mobile phone was added to the GV account
- Correct bug in phone number formatter introduced in the previous version that could in rare cases lead to a crash as soon as one of the message lists was displayed
- Various minor UI tweaks and stability improvements
1.8.3 (August 2, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store August 5, 2011)
- Fix issue with missing/disappearing voicemail transcriptions
- The application now shows more accurate geolocation data for phone numbers entered on the dial pad for US & CA numbers
- Improve phone number formatting for international numbers
- Correct behavior when using the "gvconnect://call" URL scheme on the iPad
1.8.2 (July 13, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store July 20, 2011)
- Add support for the new "Global SPAM Filter" option in the Settings - see this Google Voice blog entry for a detailed explanation of this feature
- Fix cosmetic issue with labels in the Settings view sometimes being larger than normal
- Update help to point to the new application website
1.8.1 (June 19, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store June 23, 2011)
- Improve login recovery after the GV password has changed
- Automatically append "@gmail.com" when starting a call using Talkatone if the GV username is not a fully qualified email address
- Fix potential crash when returning to the Settings view after installing Talkatone
- Account for differences in authentication and cookie handling between different system versions to prevent authentication failures
1.8 (May 4, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store May 9, 2011)
- Show contact images from the device's Address Book in message lists and conversation views
- Also use nicknames and company names for auto-completing names from the Address Book when creating a new SMS message
- Add new preference setting to disable TextExpander snippet expansion (when TextExpander is installed)
- Add a new "Clear" item to the menu when tapping the number field in the dial pad to give another option to quickly clear the previous empty (iOS 3.2 or higher only)
- Fix issue where the phone label would sometimes be part of the last message when creating a new contact from an SMS thread
- Properly update the last message time in the SMS list after replying to an SMS conversation
- Don't disable the "More…" button in message details for unknown numbers
- (iPad) Scroll to the bottom of the previous SMS conversation when showing the keyboard to write a reply
1.7.3 (April 10, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store on April 18, 2011)
- Improve SMS conversation view to display more messages at once and exhibit smoother scrolling behavior
- Make sure to select the correct voicemail greeting and forwarding email address when more than seven items are present for either list
- (iPad) clear previous SMS message and recipient when reopening the SMS compose popover
1.7.2 (April 2, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store on April 8, 2011)
- Add new preference for swipe behavior in SMS/VM lists - swipe action can now be either "delete" or "archive" (with the other actions still accessible by holding down a message in the list)
- Add new preference for return key behavior on the keyboard when composing a new SMS - either insert a new line or send the message
- Fix issue where SMS forwarding would sometimes toggle the wrong phone number if more than one mobile phone has been added to the forwarding numbers
- Properly refresh the voicemail preview in the message list if the transcription has been updated in order to prevent showing "Transcription in progress" in the message list even after the transcription is complete
- Improve VoiceOver description for play/stop buttons in the voicemail detail view
- Improve reliability of placing calls via the "Direct Call" method
- Fix issue with the unread message indicator displaying a negative number in certain conditions
- (iPad) restore previous SMS draft when re-opening the new message popover after it has been accidentally dismissed
- (iPad) correctly update currently selected QuickSetting name when switching after selecting a different setting or switching accounts
1.7.1 (March 9, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store on March 16, 2011)
- Add new option for "shake to refresh" to improve accessibility when using VoiceOver
- Add new preference for primary action of contacts/favorites button for faster access to the favorites within the application
- Expand the application's URL scheme to allow for switching QuickSettings for the current account via "gvconnect://quicksetting?NAME" URL - this allows to quickly change settings from a custom shortcut on the device's home page
- If the current settings match a QuickSetting, display the active QuickSetting on the Settings and QuickSettings lists
- Fix issue where "pull to refresh" sometimes would load older instead of the most recent messages
- Correct problem where some accounts would not be able to create QuickSettings
- Improve compatibility for accounts using Google's new two-step authentication
1.7 (February 21, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store on February 28, 2011)
- Add "Quick Settings" — save and restore account settings (DND, forwarding, …) to allow easy switching between different profiles
- Add support for TextExpander touch snippet expansion when composing SMS (if TextExpander touch is installed and snippet sharing is enabled)
- Implement "pull to refresh" (akin Twitter, Facebook) in the message lists in order to make more room for the message filters
- Timestamps in SMS conversations are now correctly displayed in the local time zone if it is different than the preference setting on the website
1.6.1 (February 5, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store on February 8, 2011)
- Re-added "All" selection for SMS and voicemail lists in addition to the "Inbox" an "Archive" selections
- The selection of speaker vs. earpiece when listening to voicemails or recorded calls is now remembered globally and between multiple launches of the application
- Reworked the settings for "Call Screening" options to be consistent with the GV website
- Fix issue which could result in an application crash when displaying a voicemail or recorded call of zero length
- Fix application crash after entering account information some people were experiencing
1.6 (January 7, 2011 — released on the iPhone App Store on January 10, 2011)
- Add support for GV's 'Archive' feature - SMS and voicemails are now split between the Inbox and Archive in the application to better mimic the website interface and provide a less cluttered Inbox
- Allow forwarding of individual SMS conversations and voicemail messages via email
- Change swipe action in SMS and voicemail lists from delete to un-/archiving of the selected conversation
- Support for additional actions on SMS and voicemail conversations (un-/archive, mark as un-/read, forward as email) - options can be accessing using a long tap in the message list or using the 'More…' button at the bottom of a conversation
- Improve reliability when using the 'Direct Call' option
- SMS recipient and message can no longer be edited while the message is currently being sent
- Various improvements for VoiceOver accessibility
1.5.1 (December 18, 2010 — released on the iPhone App Store on December 20, 2010)
- Fix crash in the history view when automatic voicemail pre-fetching is enabled
1.5 (December 11, 2010 — released on the iPhone App Store on December 14, 2010)
- Added optimized iPad interface - GV Connect is now a universal binary with interfaces for both, iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad
- Integrate support for the 'Talkatone' application to allow placing outgoing VoIP calls using your Google Talk account
- Updated application icon
- Show calls placed from Google's GV iPhone app and the GMail desktop interface in the call history
- Play a sound after successfully sending an SMS when "Message sounds" are enabled in the application's settings
- Clear contact search results in the message compose window when clicking the contacts button
- Sort forwarding numbers by name in settings and when changing the callback number for a more consistent user experience
- Improve keyboard navigation in the login window
- Honor the user's time format preferences for the time stamps in SMS conversations
- Show the recipient's name rather than phone number when replying to a message whose sender's number is in the local Address Book
- Fix rare crash when leaving a conversation detail view
1.2.3 (November 16, 2010 — released on the iPhone App Store on November 23, 2010)
- Improve reliability and error reporting when using "Direct Call"
- Fix missing SMS messages when a recent conversation contained an SMS message with no content
- Add option to clear cached cookies in order to resolve authentication issues
1.2.2 (November 8, 2010 — release on the iPhone App Store on November 15, 2010)
- Allow queuing of outgoing SMS messages if no internet connection is available - queued messages will be automatically sent as soon as a connection is detected while the application is active
- Add support for specifying an expiration date/time for "do not disturb"
- When adding to the device's Address Book, numbers can now be added to an existing contact in addition to creating a new contact
- Make links clickable and allow partial text selection in SMS messages and voicemail transcripts. When running on iOS 3.2 or higher, allow for calling or sending an SMS using GV Connect after selecting a phone number in a message
- Improve URL handler to allow composing of SMS messages from other applications
- Fix issue where message lists might not update correctly after switching between accounts
- Various stability, performance, and visual fixes
1.2.1 (October 20, 2010 — released on the iPhone App Store on October 27, 2010)
- Add new setting to allow for automatic pre-fetching of voicemail audio
- Allow dialing phone numbers on the keypad and composing new SMS messages to 7–digit US numbers — the application will automatically assume the same area code as your Google Voice number in this case
- Fix issue where iPhone users where not able to select "Direct Call" if the iPhone was the only forwarding number connected to the Google Voice account
- Correct issue where favorites were not saved if favorites had not already been defined in a version of the application prior to 1.2
- Fix crashing on devices running iOS 3.x when displaying message lists
- Fix issue where some SMS messages would be cut short if they contained more than one '&' in the message text
- Fix issue where a message list might still display the messages from the previously selected account when switching to a different account while the message list was still reloading
- Re-worked login and authentication with the Google Voice website to prepare for upcoming authentication requirement changes. Please note that this change might require you to re-enter your account password after upgrading from a previous version
1.2 (October 11, 2010 — released on the iPhone App Store on October 19, 2010)
- Add support for multiple Google Voice accounts — previously cached information for all accounts is available for viewing even without an active internet connection
- Add support for "Direct Call" (calls are placed to a temporary access number which will call your contact directly — no more waiting for and answering the call back)
- Allow adding additional calling credit to your account (tap on the "Credit balance" in the Settings)
- Automatically reload all new messages (instead of a fixed number only) after selecting one of the message list tabs
- Add support for Bluetooth headsets when listening to voice mails (requires iOS 3.1 or higher)
- Automatically resume iPod playback after listening to a voice mail (requires iOS 4.0 or higher)
- Fix reverse-number lookup from the Address Book in order not to display contacts as " or Contact Name" if a contact has multiple linked cards
- Show calls placed via direct call in the application's call history
- Re-add the reply button at the top in the SMS conversation view — you can now use either button to initiate a reply
- Fix issue where new unread SMS would sometimes show up twice in the SMS list
- Various minor stability improvements and UI fixes
1.1 (September 30, 2010 — released on the iPhone App Store on October 5, 2010)
Tighter integration with device contacts
- add live name-based contact search to the new SMS compose view (type a contact name instead of typing a phone number in addition to being able to select from the Address Book)
- look up contact names for phone numbers in all message lists in order to show names rather than numbers whenever possible
- show matching contact name(s) when manually dialing a number on the dial pad
- allow adding new contacts to the device contacts in addition to Google Voice contacts
- add a new icon in conversation footers for adding a new contact to make this feature more obvious
SMS improvements
- add support for long SMS (longer than 160 characters) — long messages will be automatically split into multiple SMS
- bring up favorites using tap & hold on the contact button when composing a new SMS
- use a "reply" button below the SMS conversation rather than the reply button in the navigation bar for easier access and more consistent layout
- correct parsing of messages that contain '&' characters to avoid messages being cut off
New preference settings
- expose new GV setting to forward new voice mails to SMS (this fixes those SMS notifications previously being disabled when changing email notifications)
- add a new preference setting "Start call from contact" to bypass the "Call" button on the dialer and automatically start the call after selecting a phone number from the device contacts or Favorites
Miscellaneous changes & fixes
- improve reliability of clearing the last called number from the dial pad
- highlight the background for unread messages in message lists for better visibility for people with impaired color perception
- fix crash when toggling editing mode in the favorites list with more than one screen's worth of favorites
- show the message list rather than any previously open conversation when opening the application to a specific tab using the custom URL scheme
- add a one-time alert when selecting the Contacts/Favorites button on the dialer to explain how to access the favorites
- rewrite code to save/retrieve account password information from the Keychain to improve reliability
1.0.1 (September 19, 2010 — released on the iPhone App Store on September 27, 2010)
- Corrected issue where some users (mostly non-US based) would not be able to log into their account but get stuck in Logging in…/Loading Settings… forever.
- Fixed intermediate crashing on composing a new SMS after selecting a contact's phone number from the AddressBook.
- Display correct location and local time for US-based numbers within the 307 area code.
- Added new logout confirmation dialog to avoid accidental logout.
- Clear the last dialed number from the dial pad display when relaunching the application from background.
- Improved the URL scheme to allow ABContacts integration.
- Better handling of changing network accessibility to improve automatic fallback to the offline dialing feature.
1.0 (released on the iPhone AppStore on September 17, 2010)
Initial release.
Disclaimer
GV Connect respects and guards your privacy — no device information of any kind (device type, system version, unique device identifier, …) is ever sent to any server for tracking or other purposes without your knowledge. Your Google Voice account password is stored securely encrypted in your device's Keychain and cannot be accessed by other applications or retrieved from a device backup on your computer. No personally identifiable information or (e.g., account username) or message data is ever passed through any third-party servers - the application communicates exclusively with the Google Voice servers maintained by Google.
Google Voice is a trademark owned by Google, Inc. — GV Connect is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google or Google Voice.
Changes on the Google Voice website might disrupt the application — if this happens, I will try to update the application as quickly as possible to restore its functionality.
